MA Digital Media, Culture and Society / Course details

In the ‘network society’, we are accustomed to presenting versions of ourselves online in multiple ways – from social media accounts to dating apps, professional profiles to gamer handles, the ‘quantified self’ of the fitness tracker to the biometric self-constituted by and with our smartphones. This course offers the opportunity to critically investigate a range of contemporary digital practices through which we create our ‘selves’, navigate social relationships and changing economic realities, and encounter the end of the self. The course emphasizes connections and continuities between pre-digital and digital practices of the self as they continue to evolve. We focus on relating ideas and theories to everyday online practices. Students will explore ideas of the subject and the self in the context of the evolving society of capitalism, interrogate the concept of the individual and how it continues to change, and draw on visual media and creative tools along the way.

Note that this course does not require any previous technical knowledge.

• Gain an understanding of a variety of theories of the self and the subject 
• Apply theoretical frameworks to practical examples from digital culture
• Build confidence through group discussion and feedback
• Enhance your employability by showing the ability to make an original response to a project brief

This syllabus is indicative

1. Theorising the self - Hood, Belk, Marx, Freud, Lacan, network society

2. Creating the self - measurement, biometrics, quantified self  

3. Representing the self - from autobiography to branding  

4. Relating to the self - from self-portraiture to smartphones, digital narcissism  

5. Taking leave of the self - the 'end' of self, in the form of death and the Buddhist theory of anatta or no-self

The course is taught through a roughly fortnightly seminar, which combines introductory lectures, full class discussions, and small group work. The course will take place in the Digital Humanities Lab.

Students have access to two scheduled weekly consultation hours to meet individually with the course unit director to discuss their ideas and progress.

All course material will be made available on Blackboard. All feedback will incorporate advice on improving future performance.

On successful completion of the unit, it is expected that you will be able to:

• Explain a range of ways of defining the concept of the self in arts, humanities and social sciences
• Conceive and create an individual project, in response to a brief, that explores and develops your understanding of topics raised in the course

On successful completion of the unit, it is expected that you will be able to:

• Evaluate a range of ways in which the concepts of the self, the individual and the subject have been thought about
• Critique a range of contemporary digital technologies employed in the constitution and performance of the self, from different social, cultural and ethical perspectives

On successful completion of the unit, it is expected that you will be able to:

• Plan a self-directed creative project from start to finish
• Discuss work and justify ideas in progress
• Make constructive contributions to group discussion

On successful completion of the unit, it is expected that you will be able to:

• Demonstrate skills in reading and writing to a high standard, and navigating complex information environments
• Present information and arguments orally, verbally and visually with due regard to the target audience
• Think creatively how to develop and communicate your work

Indicative reading list:

Belk, Russell W. “Extended Self in a Digital World.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 40, no. 3, 2013, pp. 477–500, https://doi.org/10.1086/671052.

Benhabib, Seyla. “In Defense of Universalism. Yet Again! A Response to Critics of Situating the Self.” New German Critique, no. 62, 1994, p. 173, https://doi.org/10.2307/488515.

Berger, Arthur Asa. “The Branded Self: On the Semiotics of Identity.” The American Sociologist, vol. 42, no. 2–3, 2011, pp. 232–37, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-011-9130-5.

Bullingham, Liam, and Ana C. Vasconcelos. “‘The Presentation of Self in the Online World’: Goffman and the Study of Online Identities.” Journal of Information Science, vol. 39, no. 1, 2013, pp. 101–12, https://doi.org/10.1177/0165551512470051.

Cushman, Philip. “Why the Self Is Empty: Toward a Historically Situated Psychology.” American Psychologist, vol. 45, no. 5, 1990, pp. 599–611, https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.45.5.599.

Edwardes, Martin P. J. The Origins of Self: An Anthropological Perspective. UCL Press, 2019.

Hood, Bruce M. The Self Illusion: Why There Is No “you” inside Your Head. Constable, 2013.

Warren, Kate. “Double Trouble: Parafictional Personas and Contemporary Art.” Persona Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, May 2016, pp. 55–69, https://doi.org/10.21153/ps2016vol2no1art536.